Next Time Obama Boasts About The "Recovery", Show Him This Chart

Irony aside, the growth of income (trough to peak) during so-called 'economic expansions' has changed... and President Obama's "recovery" is the worst of the lot...

Chart: @ptcherneva

A reminder of the irony... One can read 696 page neo-Marxist tomes "explaining" inequality in a way only an economist could - by ignoring the untold destruction economists themselves have unleashed on society with their "scientific theories" (and providing a "solution" to the inequality problem which we warned readers was coming back in September of 2011) or one can read the following 139 words by Elliott's Paul Singer which in two short paragraphs explains everything one needs to know about America's record class inequality, including precisely who is the man responsible:

Inequality in the U.S. today is near its historical highs, largely because the Federal Reserve’s policies have succeeded in achieving their aim: namely, higher asset prices (especially the prices of stocks, bonds and high-end real estate), which are generally owned by taxpayers in the upper-income brackets. The Fed is doing all the work, because the President’s policies are growth-suppressive. In the absence of the Fed’s moneyprinting and ZIRP, the economy would either be softer or actually in a new recession.

The greatest irony is that the President is railing against inequality as one of the most important problems of the day, despite the fact that his policies are squeezing the middle class and causing the Fed – with the President’s encouragement – to engage in the radical monetary policy, which is exacerbating inequality. This simple truth cannot be repeated often enough.

What Warren and his friends mostly care about is that at least 51% of American voters remain totally incapable of either comprehending, or caring about, that simple chart that so clearly shows the inequality created by our current fascist government.

Soma on America. Keep the children engaged in their iPads. Keep the teenagers smoking dope. Keep the adults divided over social issues.

I'm sorry, ZH'ers. We're going to talk about the Dreamers now and how we need to open up our borders and why you're racist if you're against it.

Do you guys realize how rampant racism is in this country? I mean, we have a professional football team named, oh, god, I can't even say it because it's so racist, xxxskins! That's just totally racist! We as a first world nation MUST do something about that before we address anything else!

The rhetoric is because President Obola is using this new, greater inequality that he helped create to garner support for tax hikes on the "rich" which will ONLY equate to higher taxes on everybody else.

I don't believe 51% don't care or don't comprehend the chart, I believe most just keep voting red/blue and that is the problem. Both parties do the same thing when it comes to economic, trade or monetary policies.

The dynamic duo. One shakes the trees while the other rakes the leaves.

Living in a world full of liars and thieves (and worse) the sheriff does just enough to be slightly more than useless while criminality runs wild. The citizens fearful of a town with no law at all, rationalize the continued service of their sheriff, as he is but the latest in a long line of dissapointments. No Masked Man, no Marshall Dillon, as they have all been bought off or buried on Boot Hill.

That series of your work is stunning in the truest sense of the word. The creepiest is "Titanic" which should get you a Pulitzer except you are so far from MSM that it would have to be only in a Bizarro Universe.

Not to be simplistic......but it's clear to me looking at both trends you can see how good we had it after WW II when our manufacturing was unscathed by the war and everyone was rebuilding and buying our stuff including us. Those dollars recirculated many times over in our communities and the country at large and everybody's boat rose.

But then the world recovered.....and we started to import a lot more cheaper goods and eventually moved some of our own manufacturing overseas. Then came the domestic Peak Oil event in 1970 along with the dollar being loosened from gold. Now you see financialization begin and the Great Ponzi ramp up to what it is today.

Now the apple is rotten and hollowed out at the core and even now the rot has spread to the outside. People know by looking at the outside of the apple that it is rotten to the core. No more covering it up with a little candy apple red.

It's only going to get worse....until the collapse to a much less energy intensive and poorer overall equilibrium. But....i hope....a more, honest one as well.

But I'm afraid our Masters of the Universe will launch a world war if need be to keep that from happening.

And Citizens that can tell when they lost the free press, and were fed horse shit by actors in the Senate & House of Reps.

Back when I was a boy we knew when Lawyers, Politicians, Bankers are lying. Simple when their lips move.

"...Inequality in the U.S. today is near its historical highs, largely because the Federal Reserve’s policies have succeeded in achieving their aim:..."

- Congress & The US President don't have any power to Legislate and Strengthen the Economy?
- If Liberals Take all the Tools off the Table in terms of Capital Controls, Tariffs, Off Shore Tax havens, Capital Flight, Stagnant Capital, Economic Leakage, Tax Loopholes, Tax Policy, Fancy Pants Derivatives,... then maybe we need to Lynch the Economists, Bankers, and Politicians that put us here, kick out the Neoliberals
- What Lobbying & Money in Politics never occurred to the Author???

Fed Operates on a Congressional Charter. I say Congress has the Power.

But I also saw that we have a Military Republic that is now Screaming Fascism.

No one told him that capital's value depends on FUTURE EXPECTATIONS of returns (genius, Piketty).

Keep on trying to give the bad-invested capital the value "demonstrated" in Piketty's Marxist volume by inflating the currency.

Keep on telling people capital gives you returns simply by being sit on it and if someone asks why then is not better to privatize social security letting the "people" being sit on their savings, say: "hey, you are a [...]ist!" (double error, bad diagnosis and bad treatment according even to the bad diagnosis... i.e. schizophrenia).

Quantitative Easing, deficit spending at Federal, state, and municipal level, and relaxed accounting rules are all that has prevented total economic collapse. These delaying strategies have exceeded their useful life. I do not know what the trigger (black swan) will be but we are truly on the financial precipice. Will the trigger be Russian invasion of Ukraine, fall of Baghdad to ISIS, ISIS invasion of Saudi Arabia, …

The conclusion was not that Obama's policies started the trend. The conclusion is that Obama's policies continue this trend. Meanwhile, he ran on a message of "hope and change" and pretends to support the poor and middle class. But go ahead, keep apologizing for the worst president I have been alive to see. You're pathetic.

Lots of Inflation, Not So Many New Jobs
This chart compares the percentage change in non-farm payrolls with the percentage change in the consumer price index starting in January of 1939. The two track closely together for over 30 years, until they begin to significantly diverge around 1970. This coincides with the collapse of the Bretton Woods Accord in 1971 and the move to a floating currency exchange system.
Export:
Sources:
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Updated:
August 6, 2014 at 5:12 PM EDT

Rob us and then tell us they need protection money. Do we have a choice now? There are but two ways. One is to live in poverty, the other is to go to jail. Not that different when you think about it, three meals and a cot.

Stop listening and endorsing asinine policies. Job1. Job 2. End the fucking FED (enough has been written no need to repeat here). Job 3. Let markets fetter out true price discovery where asset prices come back to reality - falling prices have always been a silver lining to a recession - where idiots exchange property with the prudent and the wise - thats capitalism. Job 4. Fire the government - every last bit of it - its not working now, hasn't worked before, no reason to think its going to work going forward ($17T oughta be all you need to understand that). Job. 5 Return to the Constitution - imediately. Job 6 End the imperialism and kill the GDP drag the MIC has on the economy. Job 7. Confiscate - literally - 50% of the wealth of the 1% (and redistribute back to the middle class - pick a formula I don't care). They are ill-gotten gains at the expense of the evicerated middle class - a result of UN American socialist dogma, otherwise they get the fuck out with only the shirt on their backs. Job 8. Reinstate the Gold standard. Job 9. Repeal all Executive orders that have occurred over the last 20 years. Job 10. ensure that Jobs 1 through 9 are fucking done right. How about that?

Pareto, do you really believe that was capitalism that made America this empire?

Job 4: Fire the government

And who is gonna being in charge? You? I?

5: Return to the Constitution - imediately.

What does it mean? I was in the impression that the Constitution was written by lawyers and, it is doing exactly what it was supposed too, to protect the opulent minority.

Pareto,

It’s obvious that you're an intelligent person. Our problem is: Every civilization self destructs. And, when it happens to an empire, the consequences are catastrophic, because empires are all over the world exploiting others.

Job. 3 yes. Prior to 1913 Americans enjoyed - universally - the greatest wealth accumulation, productivity, innovation ever. It all went downhill after 1913 though I would submit that capitalism still prevailed dispite the growth in Leviathan.

Job 5. Actually the Constitution did a hell of a job containing bat shit crazy leaders until legislators legislated the Constitution away through Executive orders. Very little of it, to my knowledge, has left - any teeth.

The constitution was/is in my opinion one of the greatest documents ever written in support of an economy buttressed by voluntary exchange and property rights - a least cost way of garnering productivity through incentives and the thought that if you work harder you can have a better life. Somewheres along the way, Americans have acquired a taste for something else - of having some central authority tell them what to do, where they can do it - what to buy (Obama Care) who they can work for (associate with), how much they can earn and what they get in the end to spend, almost everything - every action you want to exercise must first be approved by Congress.

Finally Job. 4 - this to me, is the essence of government as expressed by Proudhon:

“To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest (how prescient this observation was!!) to be place under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality."

General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century, translated by John Beverly Robinson (London: Freedom Press, 1923), pp. 293-294.”

Don't know what else to tell ya Escrava or how else to put it. Empires fail/fall precisely because of what they are - a product of legalized coercion over humanity and the individual - of course it ends bad. Government is the problem. Privelage is the problem. That some are more equal than others - is the problem. When you make it so that not everybody plays by the same rules, where benefitsof the many outweigh the expense of the few (or the one) - that is what you get. A total break down in civilization. As Frank Michelman emphasized "as long as individual possession continues to be the norm, there is serious disvalue in the spectacle of any encroachment on possession by public authority which is suggestive of arbitrary exploitation of a few at the hands of the many. The mind moves from such a spectacle, by a short and easy mental transition, to the idea of that mutual disregard for the possession of others which, by ingrained mental habit, in turn invokes the dire idea of social disintegration - with an attendant sensation of unease (Michelman, Frank, 1967, p, 1211). It what is happening - right now in America.

Rules have been broken or legislated away. There are no property rights anymore. The notion that somebody can take from you everything you have has created an air of demoralization. Things will never be the way they were unless and until we return to the practical paradigm that the Constitution offers.

You've taken Noam out of context. I've listened to Noam on a number of issues on government and central banking. He would disagree with how you have referenced him on this.

Not sure how the Constitution has failed blacks and women but the amendments that were designed to limit government have all but one been nullified. Save the 2nd, not much else remains.

I get the impression that you have a problem with the criticism leveled at Obama and the 1%and the data provided by NBER. That somehow your like "well. It's shitty but it's the best we have. " At least that it's what our appears to me. And yet you don't consider not even for a moment that maybe accepting the status quo is seen as even bigger mistake than all the asinine decisions made prior.

I don't believe for a second that we are incapable of productively organizing ourselves without coercion. We totally can and human nature seems to suggest that we would prefer it. Government cannot know the preferences of all individuals and most of us have lived long enough to see that it unequivocally never will.

What has happened in the last 8 years does not square with Obama's "we must pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off" speech. Because I'm pretty sure Americans weren't thinking a loss of Constitutional rights was the offer.

I think the evidence speaks for itself. There is no evidence to support the status quo and all the evidence to suggest precisely the opposite.

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, political commentator and activist. Sometimes described as the "father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy. Wikipedia

America decided to make China stronger to counter Russia? For straightforward geopolitical reasons America went down this path, but the path became a slippery slope, a slide greased by greed and short term self interest. Those who let this nightmare get of of hand should have been forewarned, "be careful what you wish for." More on this subject below.

Those who look closely understand that it is not the 1% at the top stealing the icing off the cake, but the much smaller .1% or .01% that are skewing the numbers and overreaching.

I contend the biggest problem is the massive growth in crony capitalism and corruption in Washington. Much of this can be attributed to theability of those in control "changing the rules" and positioning themselves to benefit at every corner. In our busy and complex world we have found it impossible to watch all the moving parts. More on this subject in the article below.

My last statement on above comment sums up your pissed off values on the truth. I don't live life on twitter or Facefuck. We just tell the truth. You're a fucking person that lacks no values. Can we ask that you help housing distress? We need your support to take care of 10 illegals.

Come on, didn't you spill the diarrhea during Obama's second term? Can't you help these poor illegals and help them.

/sarc

We warned you stupid fucks. Live with your choices. Give a hug to your new job taking neighbor.

the new normal , nothing makes any sense.
shelf life?
.
give a thousand men and women the duty
and right of stealing, in broad daylight,
make it systemic even,
all they need that is near and dear to them
a midst a population of billions so seemingly
and indoctrinated into adherence and submission
and what do you get?
.
exponential, massive fraud and nest feathering
resulting in casualties by the millions of the
trusting and innocent.
.
who is to blame and who would even notice?

well, a journalist or artist might notice.
simply buy the "rights" or ownership of the
airwaves or media outlets and feed the public
your shit, endlessly, and the crime will never
even surface. not to mention the brain addled
ideologues and blind that have already been
abused from an early age into submission and
thoughtless con-form-ity. they will cower and
support the memes on memes as they are rolled out,
all in support of the hinge of blood lust to
which their levers revolve.
.
historically, nothing seems to change much besides
the manner of execution.

4% Are trying to scheme their way to the top, clawing and scraping and stepping on everyone they can, while riding a massive wave of cocaine to "success", feeding the corruption and fraud like a cancer.

1% Are actively trying to hold onto power granted to them by their fathers/grandfathers from the victorian era, where greed corruption and theft by the banks went rampid and unchecked with no public outcry to oppose it.

0.5% Are actively pulling strings to get laws changed in their favor , with the goal in mind of boosting profits, killing off competition with legislation (legislate your competition out of business).

0.499% Are somewhat influenced by the "cabal" or are part of the corporate control structure (Ceos of Banks, CC companies, Senate/Congress members/ public officials/legal officials judges etc.)

Then you have about 100~300 people with ties to about 12 ~ 20 bloodlines that actually control everything from top to bottom depending who's phone they call, the un-named share-holders and majority owners of every central bank.

Then you probably have about 12 people, who have a majority vote and a lot of "pull" within that cabal of say 100~ 300 people.

Those 12 probably control about 70% of the worlds wealth directly, and could pull the plug at any moment if they wanted.

"No country that values its safety should allow what the Milner group accomplished - that is, that a small number of men would be able to wield such power in administration and politics, should be given almost complete control over the publication of documents relating to their actions, should be able to exercise such influence over the avenues of information that create public opinion, and should be able to monopolize so completely the writing and teaching of the history of their own period." -Carroll Quigley

Very nice opening, seems like he had a keen eye for what was going on even back then. . .

Notice how the chart degrades after 1973 for average Joe's? Why? Why? Why? Gimme an F. Gimme an I. Gimme an A. Gimme a T. That is where the little guy started getting it good and hard. Without the little guy, there is no "America". Who can argue that printed money favors rich people? Gold standard and Mark Levin's State driven Amending the Constitution, Article 5. Only ways out.

Lets be honest here, there was never a recovery, because there was never a crisis, the entire crisis was a fabrication by the top 0.5% with the intention to defraud the american people out of their property and to kill off their competition to boot.

If there was a crisis, we should of let it run its course, and it would of eliminated the scum of the earth , instead of bailing them out and bankrupting the only people actually keeping the world turning (average americans).

People never learn, because they can't find it in their heart to believe that there are people out there so f$%$%ing messed up in the head that they get enjoyment out of ruining peoples lives in mass.

The people that perpetrated the Too big to fail scam on America and the whole world are perverted psychopaths, and the sooner people realize what kind of people they are dealing with, the better our chances are as a whole to defeat the scum of the universe.

I tend to agree. People keep looking for or hoping that someone in the dominant political parties is not totally corrupt, if they are not totally corrupt, that someone can make a difference in a systemically corrupt system ... they're wrong.

Even if there was an honest politician, they would be cornered and marginalized by the privately owned Media outlets and their opinions would be translated into mindless jibble jabble for the masses to consume and laugh at.

The problem is the corruption is very centralized.

The axis of evil if you will. . . controls:

The Media and all major news networks.

The Advertising for the most part.

They create the voting machines.

They know who to pay off to write changes into the law to suit their needs....

They have stocked the police force with mindless obedient violent drones to enforce the defunct lawless laws.

They control the medication people take and the prescriptions doctors write....

They control the ingredients in our food. . .

Your entire life-force to its very essence is under siege.... from every conceivable angle. The only thing they don't control 100% is the internet, because its too big and too fast to moderate, media is being created and edited faster than they can screen and process it. But that will only last for so long.

Eventually, everyone sees the truth. Singer is a Johney Come Lately, but he has seen the light through mathematics, which don't lie. He is speaking out now, because he sees his investments going to shit, Eventually, all Paul Singers will jump on the band wagon, but by then it'll be too late. Everyone loses.

He´s not a Johnny-Come-Lately. He is a hypocrit and piece of human filth. As he was profiting handsomely off tax-payer largesse with the GM bailout, he was in the process of shipping tens of thousands of U.S. jobs from Delphi, the primary parts manufacturer for GM, to China- stealing, in effect, the jobs of the people who had just paid him off 1.2 billion dollars. The only reason he talks about the Fed is because he runs a Hedge Fund, not Goldman Sachs or JP Morgan. Otherwise he is exactly the same as Lloyd Blankfein (his Argentina play and Blankfein´s Greece play differ how exactly?) and Jamie Dimon.

Is there an honest Jew in New York? I am not an anti-semite, and never have been, but it sure seems like every time you see an absolutely despicable human being, he is a Jew.

As you can clearly see, as bankers reach a feeding frenzy and continue to consume wealth, they will "tap out" the economy, eventually the Vampire Bankers will have drunk themselves to death and the debt based currency system will die.

That's why they did 911, gave us the Police State, Homeland Security, masive out of countrol immigration (legal and illegal) etc. They think they can put down the rebellion and enslave us. I think otherwise.

And don’t forget Vietnam: a military defeat that killed 58,000 American soldiers and left 75,000 severely disabled, and killed 1.5 million to 3.8 million Vietnamese military and civilians, and killed 600,000 to 800,000 in Cambodia, and 1 million in Laos.

America crossed the rubicon for sure: into the the whispering winds of shit.

LBJ was just doing his Masters' (CIA and banksters) will -they supported and used him to kill kennedy - he duped the Warren Commission by leading them to believe that the Russisns killed Kenendy, and that if there were a real investigation to discover this big lie -WW3 would result. Then he did their bidding by expanding Vietnma, allowing Israel to get nukes, and otherwise subverting the USA. Our country lost it's sovereignty with the coup of 11/22/63.